Note on Daily Mail article “Don’t panic... the Pill doesn’t make you fatter, women told”

The Daily Mail has today published an article on page 05 covering new guidance by the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare (FSRH) on the effects of contraception on weight gain.

FSRH would like to clarify that the statement “The FSRH’s ‘clinical effectiveness unit’ has published research on weight gain among women who use a number of widely-used contraceptives” is factually incorrect. FSRH has not published research. Rather, FSRH’s Clinical Effectiveness Unit has issued a review of the available evidence for the effect of contraceptive methods on weight. This review is intended for use by contraceptive providers to support women in making contraceptive choices.

We have not stated that no type of contraceptives can affect weight as the article suggests. Our review concludes that while some users of contraception do gain weight during use, there is no evidence that intrauterine contraception, the implant, the progestogen-only pill or combined hormonal contraception cause significant weight gain, and that data is insufficient to confirm or exclude a causative relationship between use of the contraceptive injection and weight gain.

The online version of the article can be found here, but this version does not contain the same factual inacuracies.

For further information please contact Camila Azevedo, FSRH External Affairs & Standards Manager, at externalaffairsmanager@fsrh.org or 02037945309.